Original articleLow-income neighborhood barriers and resources for adolescents’ physical activity
Section snippets
Low-income context for neighborhood resources
In large, predominantly middle-class samples of adolescents, researchers have found that access to play spaces and equipment have been associated with higher rates of physical activity [3], [4]. Further, minority youth, who are more likely to live in low-income neighborhoods, have reported that fewer convenient facilities are available to them [10]. Low-income neighborhoods may be less likely to have available facilities/locations that facilitate physical activity, such as parks, schoolyards,
Low-income household factors
Household factors may create barriers for adolescents to engage in higher rates of physical activity. Sallis and colleagues reported in 1996 that Anglo youth were twice as likely as minority youth to take after-school physical activity classes [10]. This finding may suggest that lower income households, wherein minorities are more likely to be overrepresented, may encounter barriers to participating in after-school programs. These barriers may include availability of after-school programs, cost
Hypotheses
The present study will examine the relationship between low-income neighborhood and household barriers and resources on adolescents’ physical activity. Lower socioeconomic status has been associated with less adolescent physical activity; however, there is still much to learn about how low-income environments specifically affect physical activity frequency. Previous studies have not explored the impact of quality and cost of facilities, perception of safety of facilities, and after-school time
Study design
The study is a cross-sectional survey design. Adolescents (n = 74) between the ages of 10 and 16 years were recruited from a local middle school (80% of sample) and from local community centers (20% of sample) in a mid-sized city in the southwestern United States. The median family income in the neighborhood area where youth were recruited is under $14,000, with approximately 39% single female-headed households and 80% economically disadvantaged households based on Department of Housing and
Descriptives
Demographic sample characteristics are included in Table 1. The average number of days of self-reported vigorous physical activity was M = 3.53 days (SD = 2.70) with a 0–7 range; 58.9% of respondents were engaging in 3 days or more of vigorous physical activity. The average perceived socioeconomic status was M = 2.48 (SD = .71) with a range from 0–4 (0 = my family’s income is somewhat less than others, 4 = my family’s income is somewhat more than others.
Demographic differences
Student’s t-test analyses indicate that
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to investigate youths’ perception of lower income neighborhood and household barriers and resources for physical activity. Generally, lower socioeconomic status youth were more likely to report less physical activity, consistent with previous research [6], [9], [10]. The results indicate that the hypotheses were partially supported. As hypothesized, more vigorous physical activity was associated with more hours in after-school programs and perception of better
Conclusions
The current study indicates that low-income neighborhood factors, such as perception of lower quality of facilities and inability to pay facility fees, were barriers to youth engaging in more frequent physical activity. Additionally, the perception of more safe adults at local facilities was associated with higher frequency of physical activity among youth. Youth who participated in after-school programs were more likely to report more frequent vigorous physical activity. The results extend the
Acknowledgement
This study was funded by The University of Arizona, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Small Grant awarded to Dr. Romero.
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